


The Soldier Princes

by ArtsyPaige



Category: Book of Life (2014)
Genre: F/M, It's an AU, Multi, nutcracker prince au, they're humans not gods for this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-12-20 04:39:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11913387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtsyPaige/pseuds/ArtsyPaige
Summary: Celeste and Catrina have come back and forth into their family's vacation home for many years, but right when they're around 23, a young adult's life, do they get thrust into the magic world of toys.





	The Soldier Princes

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: This may be confusing to people who don't know some of these characters from tumblr (it's almost like an inside joke in the gravepainters fandom) But I'll explain as best as I can. La Muerte is Catrina, and La Noche is Celeste, they are humans for this AU. Their parents are (as gods) Mictlan and Micteca, which are two wonderful OC's who belong to Zabchan on tumblr. She designed them initially and they took up a life and personalities of their own over time. In this fanfic they are Macario and Micaela. The two brothers known as Xibalba and El Chamuco have TWO sets of names. When I show them in the past, during times where monarchies existed, they're called Chamuel and Siba. But during modern times they're Chak'kin and Xibalba. Candlemaker is here as well, as Uncle Cerafino. All of these names belong to The-Musical-CC on tumblr for her own modern human au. She really helped me bring this fan fic to life. If it was confusing at all let me know and I'll be happy to clear it up!
> 
> FanArt: http://the-musical-cc.tumblr.com/post/137079310454/mah-girl-paiges-writting-a-thing-and-i-promised

It had been a few years since Celeste had last seen her family together for the holidays. With her and Catrina’s college lives, and grades going smoothly, but extremely busily, it was hard to find any time to really sit down and spend time together. They did all keep in close contact with one another, but it didn’t feel the same. However, in some sort of miracle, they both were able to finish finals with a passing grade and were off for the holidays, and with their parent’s invitation, they would have to fly out to the old family winter home. Which just so happened to be in Germany.

————

_Two Weeks Ago_

_“Papa? Are you sure that we should spend Christmas there? It’s been so long.” Celeste said with a small amount of uncertainty on the phone, but it was soothed by hearing her father’s deep laugh “Nonsense! You girls loved to play there all winter long, besides I paid for the house, so I say we make some good use out of it.” and once he had his mind set out on something, there was no stopping him._

————

Her father was right, their old winter home held so many fond memories there for her as a child, growing up right along side Catrina, her twin sister. Their family stayed there every winter break, with a local village not too far away, thanks to her father’s love for European fashion and a need to collect the latest styles from France, Italy, Rome, and Spain. Which never failed to always make her mother question why she married him in the first place.

“Well, this is the place.” Celeste said, looking up through the windshield at a relatively nice, clean looking house. The house stood tall, with snow white and raven black, sleek designs on everything in sight. One could see that it had been well kept and clean over the years. Catrina stepped out of the car, and instantly crossed her arms, puffing out steam in the air. “Why is it so cold over here?! And why didn’t we just spend Christmas somewhere warmer, like, oh I don’t know… Mexico for one thing.” Catrina complained, hugging herself and chattering her teeth. Celeste let out a laugh at her sister’s complaint, “We spent a good quarter of our childhood here every year, it’s practically home away from home. So suck it up. This is where Christmas is happening whether you like it or not.”

Catrina gave a half attempted glare, and a smile, rolling her eyes before the cold wind blew in. Grabbing the red backpack and swinging it over her shoulder, Catrina closed her car door, walking toward the house. Celeste did the same with a big blue shoulder strap purse. “Let’s go inside, shall we?”

Catrina chuckled, “Little sisters first.” “Oh please, it’s only 16 seconds.” Celeste said with an eye roll.

They both gave out a laugh as they stuck their hands in coat pockets, walking up the steps to the front porch of the white and black home. Celeste opened the door for them both, and they quickly gathered themselves inside, shutting the door behind them. The house smelled of pine tree and cinnamon, classic for their home, with black and white furniture contrasting each other. With the ticking of the old grandfather clock, and the whistling of the tea pot in the kitchen. At the coffee table in the living room, where a huge tree stood tall, were their father and mother, Macario and Micaela, talking, wine glasses in hand as usual, until they caught sight of their daughters and Macario’s face instantly lit up, _“Mis niñas preciosa!”_

“Hola, papa, how are you two?” Catrina greeted with a little laugh as Macario set his glass down to give them a tight hug that knocked the wind out of Celeste. “Ay, we’ve been missing our little girls too much.” he replied, as he gave both a kiss on the foreheads. Micaela walked over with a cold, yet warming smile, “Hello girls, I’m glad the snow didn’t give you too much trouble on the way over here.” as she gave them a soft hug, as to not spill over her drink that was still held in her left hand. Celeste had figured out a long time ago that her mother was no good at expressing pure emotion with her words, but she did know that what Micaela really meant, was that she was very happy to see them here.

“It’s good to see you too mama.” Celeste said, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek. Micaela’s cheek burned a bit by the affection given to her, “Yes well, you two should put your things away, and while you’re at it, please go up and collect your old things from the attic. I’d rather you girls pick what you want to keep or not and throw away the rest, rather than me.”

Catrina and Celeste walked up the many stairs, passing by old drawings, portraits, family photos and awards. Celeste couldn’t help but notice how so many of them were for Catrina, but ignored the old feelings of insecurity rising up. _It’s the holidays Celeste, try not to ruin it because of past problems, will you?_

“Celeste! Come check it out!” Catrina called, bringing her attention back to the stairs. Catrina had made it all the way to the top of the stairs, catching her breath, before staring into an old room. When Celeste made it to the top she gasped. “It’s our old room…” which had been cleaned out for the most part, the tints and shades of red and blue on every furniture, walls and even their old beds. Celeste walked up to her old bed, it seemed so much smaller than she remembered, tracing the beautiful cursive craving of her name, handiwork done by none other than their father. Catrina jumped onto her bed, and sighed “It’s still as soft as clouds, just like papa always said they were made out of.” giggling to herself. “Remember how papa tried to convince us that there was magic in everything?” Celeste did, she believed in it for years, until she realized that teens don’t believe in magic, only crazy people do.

In a deep voice meant to imitate their father Catrina gruffly joked, “Oh the mermaids gave me the fish from the docks, the fairies come in to make sure your clothing is nice and pressed, and, my personal favorite, an ogre is snoring terribly in my room! I’d rather sleep in here with you girls.” Catrina laughed, lying back down and relaxing as Celeste walked over to their old bookshelf, skimming through the spines of hundreds of classic fairytale books they read together as children. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince and her personal favorite, The Nutcracker. She remembered how she and Catrina would stay and read for hours, reenacting as the princess, hero and villain.

Which somehow reminded Celeste of what their mother had asked them to do, “Hey Catrina, come on, let’s check out the attic and find our old stuff.” “Sure, that is, if they’re not half-rotten at this point, I mean it’s been like 5 years since we’ve really looked at anything up there.”

“Come on.” she beckoned her sister, who begrudgingly got up and followed Celeste up the ladder. Celeste saw nothing but dust floating around endlessly, and trudged her way through the attic to open a window and shed in much needed light. “Ack, it’s so suffocating in here!” Celeste shrieked, coughing and waving dust out of her face. Looking around the room, she saw a few boxes, with layers of dust, and started to open each one of them. Nothing but old toys, crayons, yo-yo…

“Oh! I remember them! It’s Manolo and Maria!” Catrina cried out, reaching down into the box, grabbing a matador and a girl with a sword in her hand. When Celeste gave her a raised eyebrow as a response, Catrina scoffed in disbelief, “Come on, don’t tell me you don’t remember them. They were the cutest couple I ever married off together when we were little.”

“Right, right.” Celeste muttered, shaking her head a little. Opening up the other boxes, they were nothing but old toys in each box. “Well what we can do is probably donate all of them to charity or something, or maybe just keep ‘em for ourselves, who knows, I’d like to have kids someday and give them my old childhood toys.” Catrina says, hugging onto Manolo and Maria up to her chest. “Yeah okay you do that.” Celeste says with a laugh, closing up the box and reaching for the next box.

After each box was opened and looked through, Catrina had a near to almost collection of old toys. Generals, soldiers, and animals, there was no end to the list. Celeste and Catrina had seen that there was nothing else left to do and began to walk toward the ladder, discussing the winter activities they had planned, when Celeste noticed something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to it, it was a box, but much smaller, a toy chest? Curiously, she walked up to it, Catrina following behind. “I don’t remember this being up here.” Catrina stated, curiosity growing. Celeste noticed that it hadn’t been touched for much longer, dust was coating the top of the chest in a much thicker layer. Brushing off the top, she saw a note:

Do not touch!!! Ever!!! - Celeste

In less than appealing handwriting, she had to be at least 10 or 11 years old when she scrawled this sign. “Well, you sure hate whatever is in that trunk, you sure you don’t want to just- throw it away?” Catrina chimes in. Celeste jimmied the lock for a second, before it gave way, creaking as she lifted the top. A cloud of dust greeted them, causing them both to jump and back away as the air cleared. Celeste walked back up to the box, swinging the top open, and as she peered inside the box, she was greeted with two toy soldiers, one in red attire, armor and a horned helmet, and the other in green and purple attire, armor, with a sort of spiked helmet that almost looks like a crown. She almost instantly remembered who these soldiers were. Feeling her heart skip a beat.

————

_13 Years Ago_

_A little girl was outside, enjoying the snow falling lightly on her face. She giggles, feeling the snowflakes tickle her cheek. “Isn’t this fun? I love when it snows outside like this, in the middle of the day.” She looks at her doll, he holds a smile on his face, almost as if to agree with her. Holding him up in her small hands, she says “You’re not much of a fan for the cold huh? Don’t worry, my sister is like that too sometimes. Sorry, but you’re stuck with me, and because of it, you’ll just have to deal with it mister.” She gives him a warm smile, hugging him close before deciding she wants to eat some cookies, and runs back into the house._

————

“No way, is that… Chamuco?!” Celeste nearly shouts. She slapped a hand over her mouth, for having such a loud outburst. She hadn’t seen him or Xibalba is the longest time. “Oh boy, it’s my old friend, the jerk.” Catrina says, uneager as she peers over Celeste’s shoulder. As Celeste carefully picks up the old doll, she stares at it, and he seems to be saying “Hello, long time, no see.“ And somehow Celeste can’t help but glare at her old and dear childhood toy. She feels the anger rising up in her chest and spit out “You stupid doll!” dropping him unceremoniously onto the floor, crossing her arms. “Woah there, angry much?” Catrina says as she bends down to pick up Chamuco, inspecting the damage. Luckily, there is none.

————

_13 Years Ago_

_Ade and Milan walk by, arms linked, snickering and pointing at Celeste as she talked to Chamuco. “Have you ever seen anyone so weird?” Ade asked her friend, raising her voice up just enough for Celeste and Catrina to hear. “No, but I know that I would have never played with a doll until I was 10, especially not a boy doll. Any normal girl would have friends by now, and crushes on real boys.” Milan chuckled out pointing at Celeste. “Hey, maybe when Celeste is all grown up, she’ll marry him! She’ll marry her toy soldier and live happily ever after.” Abe mocked, using a sickly sweet voice._

_Celeste had never really cared when they spoke, nothing more than nonsense, but she could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment and self consciousness. Catrina had just began to get up, more than likely to start a fight but Celeste grabbed her shoulder, stopping her. When Catrina looked back she saw Celeste’s eyes rimmed with tears, and put her arms down obediently. Celeste ran back inside, feeling terribly sick, chest hurting and face heated up._

————

Celeste let out a huff, arms still crossed. “Well if you don’t remember, I put him away for a reason, and honestly I wish I had just thrown the chest away.” Catrina reached inside and grabbed Xibalba too, brushing off the dust that covered his face. “Besides, they’re really ugly.” Celeste lamely finished.

Catrina let out a laugh, “Ugly, but still good toys.” walking over to grab a rag, she wiped off the dust on Xibalba. She handed Chamuco to Celeste, who accepted it, and cleaned him off as well, all the while glaring at him.

“Come on, you don’t actually think he’s ugly, and, if my memory serves me right, you always said you’d marry a man just like Chamuco.” Catrina reminds Celeste, “What was it you said? Oh ‘He’ll be brave, strong, smart, handsome, a real gentlemen, and he’ll love me forever’.” Celeste feels the heat rising up her face. “And,” Cartina adds on, “He is much better than any of the other guys you’ve dated too.” she says almost in approval.

————

_13 Years Ago_

_Celeste hid under her blanket, sitting legs crossed. Celeste couldn’t get those mean girl’s comments out of her mind. All day she thought about what they said and could’t help but believe them. It is weird that she still plays with dolls, especially a boy doll nonetheless. She didn’t really have any friends, well except her sister and Chamuco. And she never was fond of any of the boys she knew. They were all so… stupid and mean. But was this normal? Looking at her toy soldier, no, she thought, it wasn’t. Her tears now dry, left her feeling something other than sadness at the girl’s harsh but truthful words._

_Angrily looking at him now, she knew what she had to do. Rushing over to her desk, she made a sign with marker and paper, and grabbed a small toy chest. In the living room, where all of her family were in, including Uncle Cerafino, she dropped the box with a thud. Macario looked up from his book, eye brow raised. “Celeste? What’s wrong dear?” as she stood there, tapping her foot waiting for her mother and sister’s attention._

_Taking a deep breath, Celeste announced, “Papa I want you to put this chest up in the attic, I never want to see it again.” and taking Chamuco in her hand, she added on “I hate this stupid doll, and I never want to see it again either. I can’t believe I even bothered playing with it for so long, I’m too old for dolls anyway.” with disgust laced in every word. Before dropping him into the box, she looked at his face one more time, and seemed to sense him saying “Please, don’t.” in a very sad, hurt tone and she almost wanted to take back what she said, but she shook her head, and dropped him in._

_Uncle Cerafino spoke up, “Woah there! Celeste, I made that toy for you! I thought you loved it, why the sudden change?” he asked, with concern. Celeste didn’t say anything, arms crossed, mouth shut._

————

Celeste ignores her sister and goes on cleaning him off the best she could and even asked, out loud, “Why do you look so sad?”. When Catrina glanced at her sister, Celeste just coughed and held him in her arm. “Oh so now you care if he’s sad or not? He must have been very sad, seeing as you put him away and forgot about him for 10 freaking years.” Catrina said, guilt rising up in Celeste as she looked more at him and his snowy blue eyes. “Whatever, he’ll get over it.” Celeste said, waving off her sister’s accusation. “What about you? You don’t think Xibalba is gonna be upset after what you did to him too?”

————

_13 Years Ago_

_Catrina walked over to her sister’s side, and looking at Xibalba one more time, drops him in the box as well, surprising Celeste. “If you don’t want to play with him anymore, then I won’t play with Xibalba either, that way, it’s fair.” Catrina simply says, giving her sister a tight hug, which she returns, whispering “Thank you.”_

————

“I only did that to help you through your difficult time. Especially when you started trying to kiss every single boy in the village.” Catrina said with a laugh. Celeste blushed, “It was just a phase!” “Come on, we should get back downstairs and get settled in our guest rooms.” Catrina said, looking over Xibalba as she closed the top of the chest and started down the ladder. Celeste let out a sigh, following behind, Chamuco in hand.


End file.
